Lynyrd Skynyrd

Posted On 19 Jul 2015 / 0 Comment

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I can still remember the “day the music died” for my generation in the south. It was that fateful plane crash in October of 1977 where half of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd perished. Southern rock was kind of a new thing back then relatively speaking and when it came to music. Southerners had a voice and by god we stuck together and were loyal. Then the unthinkable happened. Five years earlier we lost Jim Croce to a similar fate and of course the pioneers of this death by plane crash was Buddy Holly and company back in 1959.

After a ten-year hiatus post crash Lynyrd Skynyrd in one form or another – featuring at least one founding member began to tour and record again.

While I can’t name you one song they recorded since the crash, I was surprised at how many songs of theirs I actually knew. “Freebird” had become a parody of song for me as so many people I knew – especially southerners clung to and in a way is their national anthem. Lord knows they made Bic lighters famous and actually witnessed the lighter “thing” back in 1998 when I finally went to see the band in concert for the first time.

While I’ve never been that big of a Lynyrd Skynyrd fan there was no denying their bigger than life impression they gave their fans and bands that were openers always were dwarfed by the band. While an opener might use a third of the stage at best, Lynyrd Skynyrd always used every inch of the stage. They were truly bigger than life and after more than 45 years remain so even when they recently performed with Travis Tritt and Blackberry Smoke.

Tritt was huge in country music in the ‘90s and owned the genre for most of the decade. He still puts on a great show and is a great entertainer, but alas, he is not Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Same goes for Blackberry Smoke mixing southern rock with a pinch of country they are the heir apparent to the throne of southern rock gods but alas, there is still Skynyrd (by god).

Lynyrd Skynyrd has a deep history not only in music history, but pop culture and southern pop culture. Long live Skynyrd.